Night light

Here'e my latest homework from the watercolor tutorial I've been working on.  At this point I'm a couple weeks late even though we had an extra week in there at Thanksgiving.  Oh well, I'm doing more than I would have otherwise and I'm really enjoying it.

This is more of a color sketch than a finished painting.  So the perspective is off and the windows are crooked, but that is OK for this.  It is only 4.5 x 5.5 inches.  I like the colors.  It is kind of a split complementary scheme with blue, red-orange and yellow-orange.  The browns are really just dark versions of the yellow and orange.  That gives the contrast and bold color but it doesn't go rainbow crazy circus. 

I was going for an almost dark late evening effect with the last bit of sun light coming between the houses from the right.  It isn't quite right.  It looks like there is a Walmart parking lot around the corner.  The instructor suggested softer shadow lines to indicate a softer glowing light.  I think the color on the back buildings could also be a bit richer to make it seem less bright and washed out, but still warm.  I'm learning a lot, but still have so much to learn.

I checked out a stack of watercolor books from the library last week.  It's been fun to read them.  Some are really great and others not so much, but I am learning a lot along the way.